Poppy

Usually included on any “best 10 restaurants in Seattle” list, Poppy restaurant is our family’s favorite place for special celebrations. Everything about it is welcoming. It can easily accommodate the food needs of carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and others. It is upscale without feeling stuffy. It is beautiful without feeling old. Every single taste served at Poppy is innovative and delicious—and you get to have many tastes! The wait staff and greeters are kind, funny, knowledgeable, and professional.

On this New Year’s Eve visit, our friend Dave and I asked the waiter for a Crown Royal with water and a twist. He said, “We don’t carry Crown Royal, but we have other bourbons that are better.” We asked him to bring us one, and he brought us each a 2012 Pappy Van Winkle, a Kentucky bourbon that—as we discovered later—is a rare treat. Our dinners (for two meat-eaters, one vegan, and one vegetarian) were, as usual, amazing and varied, and dessert was heaven on a fork.

In every way, Poppy was—as it always is—a delightful experience for wheelchair diners and those in chairs.

Parking: There is street parking in front and near the restaurant with ramped curbs at the crosswalks, but this is Capitol Hill, so it is often hard to find street parking. A pay-for parking lot is right behind the restaurant, and it has one handicapped space very close to the back door of the restaurant. Watch your step there—the pavement is a bit uneven in places.

Entrances: There are no stairs at either the front door or the back door, and the doors give ample room for wheelchairs. There are no doorway thresholds to lift the chair over at front or back entrances. If you come in the front door, the wait staff and greeters will hold the door if they see you coming. If you come in the back door, you will get to pass through the restaurant’s lovely herb garden. You’ll also pass the restroom alcove and see that it is very easy to get to down a wide corridor that is separated from the dining room by a half-wall.

Tables: Inside the restaurant, tables can be close together, but there are at least four tables with plenty of comfortable room for a wheelchair customer accompanied by two or more friends, and many others that can easily accommodate a wheelchair customer and one friend. Wheelchairs fit under the tables easily, without getting hung up on table legs. Tables are moveable, so there is maximum flexibility in seating, and the staff members are totally sweet about moving them for maximum comfort and accessibility.

Restrooms: Getting to the restrooms, as noted earlier, is easy and uncrowded. The women’s restroom has two stalls. The stall nearest the door is the handicapped stall. It is spacious, and there are bars around the toilet. The toilet is slightly higher than average toilets, and the toilet paper is within easy reach. The men’s restroom has one stall, also wheelchair accessible.

Photos of interior space online: Yes

Photos of entrances online: Yes

Reservations taken: Yes. When you call to reserve a table, let them know that you will be coming in with a wheelchair, along with the special dietary needs of people in your party. Tell them Spoken Wheel highly recommended them!

What the wheelchair pusher has to say: Poppy is great for a pusher! No carpeting, no high thresholds, all flat.